<\/p>\n
Seattle, WA (February 11, 2010)<\/b> \u2013 A group of AT&T Mobility employees have won a legal victory countering union officials\u2019 domination of their workplace using a coercive card check unionization campaign that occurred after union organizers colluded with AT&T officials to sweep the workers into union ranks in exchange for contract concessions.\n<\/p>\n
\nPer a so-called \u201cneutrality agreement\u201d between the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union hierarchy and AT&T, workers in a 140-employee bargaining unit (which consists of various locations across the state of Washington) were \u201ccard checked\u201d into the CWA union\u2019s regional monopoly bargaining unit which consists of thousands of employees.\n<\/p>\n
\nIn exchange for AT&T foisting CWA monopoly bargaining on workers through a card check organizing drive, union officials agreed to subject employees to a contract which results in lost benefits for the workers, including promotion opportunities. Moreover, the employees\u2019 inclusion in the larger regional unit would make it virtually impossible for them to later organize to remove the union officials\u2019 monopoly bargaining privileges.\n<\/p>\n
\nHowever, using precedent won by Right to Work Foundation attorneys in the National Labor Relations Board\u2019s (NLRB) landmark 2007 decision in Dana Corporation<\/i>, Joseph Simpson of Redmond and his colleagues filed a decertification petition demanding a secret ballot election to remove the unwanted union from their workplace.\n<\/p>\n
\nIn Dana<\/i>, the NLRB, citing the coercive nature of card check organizing, recognized that employees should be able to file a decertification petition and demand a secret ballot election to toss out union officials from their workplace within 45 days after notice that a union has obtained monopoly bargaining powers through card check.\n<\/p>\n
\nCWA union brass contested the employees\u2019 request for a secret ballot election because it was not made within the 45-day window period. However, the NLRB regional director in Seattle investigating the matter confirmed employees had not been told of their right to request the election as Dana<\/i> requires, because the notice was not posted at the facility where a majority of employees worked. Apparently the notice about their Dana<\/i> rights was \u201ctaken down\u201d at some point. The first time employees heard about their right to an election was when one of them contacted the Foundation. The regional director decided that the employees\u2019 petition was therefore valid.\n<\/p>\n
\nCWA union lawyers are now attempting to tie up the NLRB decision in an attempt to avoid an election at all costs and are appealing the regional office\u2019s decision to the national board in Washington, DC \u2013 joining union lawyers in a handful of other high-profile cases asking the NLRB to undo workers\u2019 Dana<\/i> protections.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDana<\/i> provides these employees with a last line of defense against a union boss-nurtured scheme concocted to force them under union control,\u201d said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation. \u201cWhile it is certainly important that these employees will now be able to challenge the unreliable card check unionization scheme with a secret ballot election, the fact is that employees should never be forced into union ranks to begin with.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seattle, WA (February 11, 2010)<\/b> \u2013 A group of AT&T Mobility employees have won a legal victory countering union officials\u2019 domination of their workplace using a coercive card check unionization campaign that occurred after union organizers colluded with AT&T officials to sweep the workers into union ranks in exchange for contract concessions.\n<\/p>\n
\nPer a so-called \u201cneutrality agreement\u201d between the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union hierarchy and AT&T, workers in a 140-employee bargaining unit (which consists of various locations across the state of Washington) were \u201ccard checked\u201d into the CWA union\u2019s regional monopoly bargaining unit which consists of thousands of employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n